I am too tired to muster the usual outrage over what is becoming an all too-familiar story so I’ll let it speak for itself:
Bishop remained silent about 25 abusive priests – Chicago Sun Times
The former No. 2 official of the Catholic church in Chicago admitted that he knew 25 priests broke the law by sexually abusing children but did not report them, according to depositions made public Tuesday.
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond E. Goedert’s statements show “the lengths they went to to protect their reputation and the priest at the peril of the child,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents men who have sued the archdiocese over alleged childhood molestation.
“I knew the civil law considered it a crime,” Goedert said in the deposition. “But I’m not a civil lawyer. I think we just relied on—a lot on our—we knew it was wrong, what was done. And we used our common sense and prudence with the help of people—expert in the field to assist us in resolving these cases.”
Goedert, the past president of the national Canon Law (Catholic Church law) Society, said families of the victims were not seeking to get the police involved and have the priests criminally charged—they simply wanted to prevent any other children from being victimized. So while now the church calls police when it learns of credible allegations of abuse, in those days—the ‘70s and mid-80s—it did not.
“I simply would not talk about it to anyone except those who had a right to know because of their position in the diocese,” Goedert said.
OK, I can still manage a little indignation here. Once again we have a Catholic Bishop telling us that he considers the reputation of the church and its clergy more important than the welfare of a child being molested. He covered these allegations up for 25 fucking years because he considered the wellbeing of the children in his church to be less important than the church’s image. This man should be charged with multiple counts of aiding and abetting for each child he allowed to be molested. What he allowed to take place for 25 years is quite simply inexcusable.